Charging for rolls of wire

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Shortley after starting in 1976. A neighbor on my street, whose husband (Electrical Contractor) had recently passed away and stored all of his left-over job materials in his garage.
At that time, I made a decision to never save anymore leftover job materials.
After each completed project, all materials are recycled.
I have no leftover job materials in my garage.
 
mtnelect said:
Shortley after starting in 1976. A neighbor on my street, whose husband (Electrical Contractor) had recently passed away and stored all of his left-over job materials in his garage.
At that time, I made a decision to never save anymore leftover job materials.
After each completed project, all materials are recycled.
I have no leftover job materials in my garage.
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But it’s so much fun when you try to clean up a little and find stuff that you have been looking for for years.
 
WCEI said:
But it’s so much fun when you try to clean up a little and find stuff that you have been looking for for years.
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Also, I purchased equipment to strip the insulation from leftover wiring. When you recycle copper without insulation you get a higher price !
 
WCEI said:
Not to mention about 500 heaters, (OCP devices), for every type of motor starter ever made. Or something like 3000 circuit breakers from Zinsco to Wadsworth to FP Stab-Lock to Push-O-Matic. Not to mention just about every big frame breaker ever made. And then there are the panels and panel trims, and disconnects and motor starters that are just too darn good to dispose of.
This is what happens when you own a company that has been around since 1937.
Oh, and then there are the coils for just about every contactor ever made, except the one that I desperately need at any given time.
And replacement incandescent lamps for exit signs. And HPS, MV, and MH lamps.😫
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I'm not a 1930s outfit, but I had started "collecting" quite a few job-specific materials. Mostly residential.

One was LED can light trims. I had a couple hundred until about a year and a half ago. I met a new home EC who only used them in showers, so he would use only 1 or 2 on a job. I asked him if he wanted my collection, mostly one 2 or 3 of each brand/style.

He thought I was asking him to buy them, and he wasn't interested. I said "nope. You can have 'em"

By golly, he wanted them after all 😅

He might have used them all by now, we lost touch. But they've already been replaced by another 150 or so spares which I only intend to keep until all warranties are done. We'll see how that works 😬
 
James L said:
I'm not a 1930s outfit, but I had started "collecting" quite a few job-specific materials. Mostly residential.

One was LED can light trims. I had a couple hundred until about a year and a half ago. I met a new home EC who only used them in showers, so he would use only 1 or 2 on a job. I asked him if he wanted my collection, mostly one 2 or 3 of each brand/style.

He thought I was asking him to buy them, and he wasn't interested. I said "nope. You can have 'em"

By golly, he wanted them after all 😅

He might have used them all by now, we lost touch. But they've already been replaced by another 150 or so spares which I only intend to keep until all warranties are done. We'll see how that works 😬
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Yes, it is hard to let go of possessions ... It's the warm feelings of memories.
It's called "Hording".
 
Yeah, I dumped a goodly amount of non-tamper resistant devices. One Saturday, I told them that our relationship was over. Irreconcilable differences. That I was moving on.
 
Mr. Serious said:
I don't charge for the whole roll, but I try to make sure it's something I'll be able to use again. I had a customer ask for Cat 8 cable. I hadn't heard of it before, so I looked it up and read a few references, and found an online store selling it. I told him it's normally only used in data centers, and I asked him to buy the box of it, since I probably wouldn't have any other customers asking for it. He decided to go with Cat 6.

It turned out he had no idea what he was asking for. At the job site, the only thing my crew used was a co-ax wallplate and a couple of co-ax cable connectors. The customer messaged me "good thing neither of us bought Cat 8!"
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First I’ve heard of CAT 8. Was there a 7 also? I knew of 5, 5E & 6.
 
Donating unwanted stock to the nearest Habitat for Humanity ReStore is one way to clear out stuff. I see it locally, Build dot com is local & the amount of residential lighting that they donate is mind boggling.
 
norcal said:
Donating unwanted stock to the nearest Habitat for Humanity ReStore is one way to clear out stuff. I see it locally, Build dot com is local & the amount of residential lighting that they donate is mind boggling.
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I agree, move it out fast. That was my problem ... you keep it a week, it turns out to be a month and then some.
 
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